Mealey's Insurance Pleadings : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

May 08, 2024
Timeliness, Other Issues Raised Over Motion For Final Judgment, Certification

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Arguing in part that “if an interlocutory appeal were to be sought, it should have been sought in 2022,” a reinsurer urged an Illinois federal court to deny a motion in which a railroad company seeks “two alternative grounds for appellate jurisdiction” in a suit over mine subsidence claims.
May 08, 2024
Insurers Say Coverage Barred In AFFF PFAS Cases Because Harm Arises Out Of ‘Waste’

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A group of insurers has filed a sur-reply brief in South Carolina federal court arguing that the majority of lawsuits against a maker of the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), for which the insurers are being asked to provide coverage, allege harm arising out of “waste,” rather than harm associated with a product put to its intended use, and, therefore, coverage is not owed.
May 07, 2024
Claimant Files Complaint, Says LTD Benefits Owed For Long COVID Diagnosis

PHOENIX — A denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits was arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion because the disability insurer failed to properly consider the restrictions and limitations set by the claimant’s treating physicians as a result of the claimant’s diagnosis with long COVID, the claimant contends in a complaint filed in Arizona federal court.
May 07, 2024
Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Dust Emissions Suit, Insurer Says

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — No coverage is owed to an insured for an underlying lawsuit stemming from dust emissions from the insured’s facility because the policy’s pollution exclusion bars coverage for the lawsuit, an insurer maintains in a complaint filed in Texas federal court.
May 06, 2024
Freddie Mac Dismisses Lead Insurer From D&O Coverage Dispute Over SEC Subpoena

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) and its lead insurer on May 3 filed a joint stipulation asking a District of Columbia federal court to dismiss the insurer from Freddie Mac’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking directors and officers liability coverage for underlying expenses it incurred on behalf of its directors, officers and employees who were subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission during an investigation and subsequent lawsuit.
May 06, 2024
Insurer, HOA File Notice Of Tentative Settlement In Dispute Over Constructed Homes

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An insurer and a homeowners’ association filed a notice in a Florida federal court indicating that they intend to file a joint stipulation of dismissal of their construction insurance dispute, wherein the insurer sought a declaration that it owed no indemnification to a subcontractor that worked on homes operated by the HOA, due to a tentative settlement in an underlying lawsuit.
May 06, 2024
Question Of Law Exists On Communicable Disease Exclusion, Insurer Says

NEW YORK — A commercial lines insurer filed a motion for interlocutory appeal to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that a question of law exists as to whether a policy’s communicable disease exclusion applies as a bar to coverage for three underlying lawsuits alleging that residents of the insured properties contracted Legionnaires’ disease.
May 06, 2024
Interlocutory Appeal Sought On Choice-Of-Law Ruling In Contamination Coverage Suit

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Insurers filed a motion to certify an Illinois federal judge’s choice-of-law ruling for interlocutory appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, contending that an interlocutory appeal will advance the environmental contamination coverage suit toward resolution.
May 06, 2024
Insured Files Notice Of Appeal To 7th Circuit In Radiation Exposure Coverage Suit

MILWAUKEE — An insured filed a notice of appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of a Wisconsin federal judge’s ruling that breach of contract and bad faith claims cannot proceed against two commercial general liability insurers because coverage is barred pursuant to the policies’ radioactive materials exclusion for an underlying suit seeking damages for bodily injuries caused by exposure to electromagnetic (EMF) radiation from the insured’s electric transformers.
May 03, 2024
Insureds Defend Their Appeal To N.C. Supreme Court In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

RALEIGH, N.C. — Restaurant insureds defended their appeal asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s grant of partial summary judgment in their favor in a COVID-19 coverage dispute, asserting that a “careful examination makes clear that its policy as interpreted under North Carolina’s specific laws provides coverage for its losses.
May 03, 2024
Disability Claimant Seeks Rehearing Of Preexisting Condition Exclusion Ruling

PASADENA, Calif. — A disability claimant filed a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, contending that rehearing is warranted because the Ninth Circuit panel’s decision that a long-term disability (LTD) policy’s preexisting condition exclusion bars coverage creates an intracircuit conflict with a prior ruling of the Ninth Circuit.
May 02, 2024
Insurers Seek Dismissal Of BASF’s Coverage Action Tied To AFFF Injury Claims

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Multiple insurers have filed a brief in support of a motion to dismiss an insurance coverage action filed by BASF Corp. in South Carolina federal court related to claims arising from exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), arguing that there is a “more comprehensive” action BASF has already filed in New Jersey state court.
May 02, 2024
Alleging They Were Defrauded, Investors File Related Suits Over $65M Deal

In related complaints filed in Florida and New York state courts over a December 2021 deal, entities that say they invested about $65 million in a managing general agent just months before affiliated insurance companies were liquidated allege that they were defrauded.
May 01, 2024
Summons Provided For Owner Of Insolvent Insurers In Dispute Over LLC Conversion

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Puerto Rico-based life insurer provided a Delaware state court with a copy of a summons to be served on a Delaware-based entity and its owner, Greg Lindberg, who also owned insolvent insurers, in a suit alleging that Lindberg unlawfully converted the entity from a corporation into a limited liability company as “part of a systematic plan to siphon off assets held by a reinsurance trust” created to protect the Puerto Rico insurer and its policyholders.
May 01, 2024
Subcontractor Appeals Summary Judgment Rulings In Worker Injury Coverage Dispute

NEW YORK — A subcontractor on April 30 filed a notice in a New York federal court indicating it is asking the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review the federal court’s orders that denied its motion for partial summary judgment and granted insurers’ motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit arising from personal injury actions brought by two of its workers.
April 30, 2024
Shareholders To 3rd Circuit: Revive Securities Case Against Reinsurer, Execs

PHILADELPHIA — Arguing in part that one holding “invented a ‘total eclipse’ standard lacking any basis in” Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers Dist. Council Constr. Indus. Pension Fund, shareholders filed an appellant brief challenging discovery and summary judgment rulings in a suit over allegations that a reinsurer and some of its former executives violated federal securities laws.
April 30, 2024
Insured Seeks Michigan High Court Review Of Ruling In Favor Of Insurance Agent

LANSING, Mich. — An insured asked the Michigan Supreme Court to review an appeals court’s ruling that affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary disposition in favor of an insurance agent and agency in its negligence lawsuit arising from its lack of flood coverage, challenging the appeals court’s finding that the defendants did not owe it a duty to assess and ensure the adequacy of its business insurance coverage and that it failed to establish a special relationship giving rise to that duty.
April 30, 2024
Insurer Urges 11th Circuit To Affirm Ruling That Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should uphold a district court’s ruling that an insurer owes no coverage for underlying suits filed by residents of a condominium building who claim that they were injured as a result of fumes exhausted from a backup power generator because the policies’ pollution exclusions bar coverage as the generator was stored in a utility closet that was occupied or owned by the insured, the insurer contends in its appellee brief.
April 30, 2024
Insurer, Insured Reach Settlement In Water Damage Coverage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — An insurer filed a notice of settlement in California federal court after reaching a settlement with its insured in a suit seeking coverage for water damages to the insured’s business.
April 29, 2024
Duke Dismisses D&O Primary Insurer From Coverage Suit Over Antitrust Settlement

RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke University voluntarily dismissed the primary insurer from its lawsuit seeking directors and officers liability coverage for its settlement of an underlying antitrust lawsuit, indicating to a North Carolina federal court that it has resolved its dispute with the insurer.
April 26, 2024
Insurer Seeks Texas High Court Review Of Majority’s Reversal In Tornado Dispute

AUSTIN, Texas — A homeowners insurer asked the Texas Supreme Court to review a Texas appellate court majority’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment against insureds in a coverage dispute arising from tornado damage, challenging the majority’s conclusion that the term “windstorm” in the policy’s “Windstorm or Hail Deductible” is ambiguous and that the insureds’ construction of it was not unreasonable.
April 26, 2024
CGL Insurer Dismissed From Coverage Dispute Arising From Opioid Epidemic

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Parties filed a stipulation in a South Carolina federal court dismissing one commercial general liability insurer without prejudice from the insurers’ lawsuit seeking a declaration that they have no duty to defend or indemnify against governmental entities’ underlying lawsuits alleging that their insured caused or contributed to the opioid crisis by improperly marketing, distributing and selling opioid medications.
April 25, 2024
Liberty Mutual Sues Sibling Medical Providers For Fraud, RICO Violations

FLINT, Mich. — Liberty Mutual sued a physical therapy provider, a chiropractic provider and the brothers who run them in a Michigan federal court, asserting violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and common-law fraud related to alleged overbilling for medically unnecessary services or for those that were not provided.
April 25, 2024
Bid For Ruling As To Coverage Exclusions Is Disputed In Suit Over Water Damage

PHOENIX — In a reply brief challenging arguments by an insurer and reinsurer that the ruling it seeks would be advisory, the insured tells an Arizona federal court that what it is really requesting is a proper “partial summary adjudication . . . on two issues of law that are critical in this insurance coverage and bad faith action” over water damage.
April 25, 2024
Insolvent Insurers’ Owner Asks Delaware Court To Vacate $524M Foreign Judgment

NEW CASTLE, Del. — A judgment debtor and former owner of insolvent insurers ordered by a North Carolina federal court to pay a $524,009,051.26 judgment to a Puerto Rico-based insurer asked a Delaware state court to vacate the foreign judgment, asserting that the insurer has provided “evidence that no payment is required by” the debtor under a reinsurance trust backed by the debtor’s $25 million guarantee.